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Originally Posted by matt787
Um.... the CONSTITUTION, anyone???
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I'll start by saying that while I am a deist, I am not a christian. I feel that no religious text is inherently better than any other religious text on the face of the earth because they were all written by humans. Thats not to say that they don't all contain some good advice on how to live.
That said, the "seperation of church and state" granted in the constitution that everybody refers to does not say anything prohibiting the government from showing anything religious. It merely states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" Meaning they won't make a church of America, or ban the practice of hinduism in the US.
Printing the words "in god we trust" on a government building is not "making a law," nor is it "prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
As stated before, words printed on a building are unlikely to prevent anybody from becoming an atheist, or a muslim, or any other religion, just as they are unlikely to make somebody become a christian.
I understand the atheist point of view. A large portion of my family are atheists. A large portion of them are christians. But that doesn't mean that the government can't print in god we trust on its money and its buildings, or use "under god" in the pledge of allegiance.
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